Slumdog Millionaire continues to collect awards in its pre-Oscar run, but that might not be the biggest story tied to the feel-good movie. There’s a chance its success will spell renewed interest in Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and maybe even a return to prime time for the once-popular series. Uh…paging Regis? The Meredith Viera version of WWtBaM still airs in syndication, to solid but declining ratings according to the New York Times. Given the current popularity of prime time game shows like Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, maybe a Millionaire renaissance isn’t too far off. That’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard — I’ve watched quite a bit of Millionaire in my time, though I consider myself a Jeopardy! person at heart — but it’s not the game show I want revived.
TV overlords, give me back Beat the Geeks, a short-lived Comedy Central series that pitted average folk against genre experts. I will also accept a new version of Idiot Savants, an MTV show that let contestants show off their unusual areas of expertise. Both shows are totally due for contemporary iterations given 1. our cultural climate of enthusiastic nerd acceptance and 2. a truly pervasive need for income. Blockbuster movies get special previews at Comic-Con, iPhone apps are sweeping the nation, and I for one cannot wait for tech demigod Steve Wozniak to dance with the stars. We have a Trekkie in the White House, for goodness sake. Bring back my geek contests!
addCredit(“Dev Patel in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’: Ishika Mohan”)
Loved Beat the Geek and would love to see it – but what happened to the World Series of Pop Culture or whatever it was called that was sponsored by EW? I even tried out for that the first year (one of my teammates just didn’t quite pass the test). Bring back both shows!
Don’t bring back any games shows. Let’s limit the decent ones we have on right now to at least one hour-one night a week or less and bring back or keep even great tv shows. (PD and Eli Stone as well as Stargate Atlantis and FNL is struggling. SAVE GOOD TV BY STOPPING THE BAD AND JUST PLAIN SILLY)
The thing that always kills prime time game shows for me is the “drag out” nature. Ugh! It would take so frickin long- lets just roll with the questions. Liked Moment of Truth but would just DVR and fast forward- I’d finish in about 10 minutes.
Bring back Rock & Roll Jeopardy! The host hasn’t been able to get any work in America, and has had to host a bunch of reality series from overseas. The guy deserves another break in the States. I think his name was Probst or something.
I second a Beat the Geeks return. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a return of Remote Control the late 80′s show on MTV, although the music video finale would have to be scrapped.
Super Sloppy Double Dare
Turn it Up
Beat The Geeks
Remote Control
and Rock in Roll Jeopardy (but the questions have to be much harder)
Millionare in tha afternoon is fine as is, but if it must come back on primetime, it should be on only one day a week. The multiple times business destroyed the evening version completely.
I’d only watch if he pronounced it the same as Anil Kapoor: Millanaaaaaaah!
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And thirded for Beat the Geeks, very fun show.
bring back win ben steins money for sure!!!!
I vote for a return of Win Ben Stein’s Money.
I second “Win Ben Stein’s Money”.
I watch Millionaire at work everyday with Meredith… she’s a much better host than annoying Regis. I wish they would bring back Inquisition on the Game Show network, I loved that show.
Beat the Geeks was awesome. I love that it was mentioned here.
Keep it off the air, it ended for a reason.
bring back “where in the world is carmen sandiego”. i loved watching that show on pbs
I loved Idiot Savants, I would totally go on that show!